


The Perfect Gift

by Yabanned



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff and Angst, Future Hyrule, Gen, M/M, Post-Calamity Ganon, Rebuilding Hyrule, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), fic of a fic, masculine romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yabanned/pseuds/Yabanned
Summary: Unofficial continuation of "A Most Convenient Marriage"Zelda is at war to recover her kingdom and, in desperate need of an alliance, she asks the hand of Prince Sidon in marriage, giving her champion to him as a proposal gift. Link is devastated by the cold move of the princess, but happy to serve under Sidon, his most treasured friend. The relationship between champion and master grows and changes into something else, but then, a self-proclaimed sorcerer called Circe seizes Leia's fortress and Zelda asks her trusted champion and her future husband to recover it for her. They succeed, but for a price, and now Link is on a race to get Circe's head, by request of the princess, but for the prince's sake.
Relationships: Link/Mipha (Legend of Zelda), Link/Prince Sidon
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. A Zora's love song

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A most convenient marriage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060709) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> "A Most Convenient Marriage", my favourite SidLink fic, was abandoned at the beginning of 2018 and orphaned at some point afterwards. I revisited it after a series of SidLink duets on TikTok gave me nostalgia, and when I was done, I decided I was gonna write myself the closure I wanted to read. I don't know the author, I haven't asked for their permission, blessing or approval, and our writing styles couldn't be more different, but buckle up because we are going for the sorcerer's head!
> 
> Some conventions: quotations ("_") indicate spoken dialogue, square brackets ([_]) indicate sign language, and double angle quotations («_») indicate written words that are spelled on a person's skin.
> 
> I tried to contextualize what happened in the original fic the best I could, but I strongly suggest you read it first. It is 101k words long and each one of those words is worth it, so... enjoy!

It was difficult to tell who was in a worse mood: Link, Manny —the stable boy of Ton Pu Inn at Hateno village—, or the donkey stationed on Epona’s usual place at the barn.

“Would you at least speak to me?” asked Manny, and he spit at the floor “I don’t understand half the crazy signs you make and you know it.”

[Just move the ass already,] Link signed in reply, [this is Epona’s place.]

Epona shifted her weight. Link, still on the saddle, automatically patted her neck while glaring at Manny and his stupid face with the stupid little straw he was biting all the time.

“What are you shouting at now, Manny?” asked a tired, gentle old voice from the inn, “ah, Master Link! You came back so quickly!”

Link tried to smile at old sweet Uma, a helper of the inn’s kitchen who used to tell him tales of the Calamity back when he was still freeing the divine beasts, but his face only managed to contort enough to bare his teeth and make him look like a crazed predator. Manny crossed his arms over his chest and spit at the floor again.

“I am glad to see you are alive and well,” said Uma, going slowly down the stairs, “Manny, Prima wants you to take the donkey to the fields; one of Amira’s kids just came to say Nack has all the sacks ready.”

An actual smile appeared on Link’s face, full to the brim with mockery for the stable boy. Manny’s ears turned red. He grumbled and went to pull the stubborn donkey out of the barn, provoking some loud brays.

Link dismounted and scratched Epona below the ears and under the mane, kissing and nuzzling her softly while throwing taunting glances at Manny. The stable boy murmured some profanity and managed to take the donkey out, positioning it just got close enough for Link to reach its rear. Without hesitation, Link spanked the donkey and sent it running down Hateno’s main street, dragging Manny with him. Uma let out a gasp and then she laughed to match the champion’s huge grin.

“Forgive Manny, you know how he is,” asked the old lady. Link took a pitchfork to remove the dirty hay, “are you staying?”

Link shook his head, his smile fading. He didn’t even plan to stay long enough to eat. He had galloped almost nonstop from Leias Fortress and felt his legs were about to fall off, but he didn’t want to waste any more time than necessary taking care of his dreadful chore. His lungs felt like collapsing just thinking about what he had to do.

Hateno was the easiest part. There, he just had to retrieve the results of Purah’s tests over the remains of old rebel Jord Cullen, after the bastard blew himself up to escape prosecution, poisoning Prince Sidon, his soldiers and medics on his way to hell. If only there was a way to put that man together so Link could ask him where his master was and then cut him to little pieces again! Link had promised Sidon to bring him the head of that master, the self-proclaimed sorcerer ‘Circe’, whose real name, now they knew, was Perses of Helenea. Link didn’t know how, but he would find the man and kill him before retrieving the test results to Sidon. He had to hurry. He was restless, thinking of the gentle prince, still scarred and traumatized for the violent rampage the poison had made him go through, walking outside the fortress every morning to pay respects to his fallen soldiers at the cemetery, having nightmares every night. In danger, without Link at his side.

Curse the Goddesses.

Link looked around him and noticed that Uma had left. The barn was completely clean and Epona looked at him with calm expectation, waiting for him to move so she could eat at last. Link sighed. He probably came as rude to the old lady. Hoping that she would cut him so slack, Link allowed Epona into the barn and started jogging uphill, towards the Hateno Ancient Lab.

—

“Are you stepping into this sanctuary of knowledge with muddy boots again?” asked Purah as soon as Link opened the door.

He just turned around and went to leave his boots next to the furnace outside. There was a basin there and the blue fire made the water warm, which prompted him to wash his face before going inside again.

“Good. You look lovely now,” she said when he came back, without looking at him, busy as she was writing in a long piece of parchment, “there are sleepers next to the coat rack, under the books, somewhere.”

Despite some years had passed, she was not quite an adolescent yet, and her little legs hung comically, as she was not tall enough to touch the floor with her feet. Link tried not to chuckle; he focused on moving the books around until he found a pair of zori sandals that were a bit on the large side.

“Symin is not feeling well, years are catching up to him, you know,” said Purah with no emotion, “if you want something to drink, help yourself, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Link went straight to the cupboard at the back of the room and looked for honey among the jars of dried herbs. Honey, milk, butter and a touch of Goron spice. Good for the throat and the nerves, both of which were killing Link, if he was going to be honest.

Once Purah gave him the results, he had to use the sheikah slate to go to Gerudo Town. He would teleport to the Wasteland Tower first and go to Kara Kara Bazaar on foot, not to raise any eyebrows by suddenly materializing next to Gerudo Town’s main door. There, he would change to the Gerudo Vai outfit and wait for one of Zelda's emissaries, who would take him to... her.

Link poured the ingredients of his beverage into a small pot and opened the chimney to light a fire under the broiler. He did not want to see Zelda. He would first fight the flames of the mighty dragon Dinraal than speak with her in front of an audience. Fuck it, he would fight the three dragons of legend at the same time if that meant he could skip speaking with her in private. Maybe he should be pouring some heavy gin spiced with swift violets instead of conforming to bland sugary milk. There was no way he could survive a meeting with the Princess of Hyrule, the one who gave him away as a wedding gift with no hesitation, sober. 

“You are awfully quiet,” said Purah behind him, “are you alright?”

[I’m fine,] he signed with one hand while putting the pot to boil with the other.

“Are you up to speak?”

[No.]

“Then you are not fine.”

Link pinched the bridge of his nose, stood up and turned to see Purah, who was pouting at him.

[I lost my voice during the siege,] he explained, hoping she would believe his lie, [potions are no good, got to be patient.]

“Too bad,” said Purah while patting her puffy skirt to flatten it, “well, if you need me to look at you, clap twice”, she looked at him, “give me a snap if you got it.”

Link made finger guns and smiled.

“Snap, snap!” she said, amused, “get your baby bottle and follow me.”

_Baby bottle?_

Link blinked twice and then heard the sound of boiling bubbles behind him. He rushed to take the pot out before it made a mess, poured the energizing milk in a big mug he found on the cupboard and followed Purah upstairs.

The room in the second floor used to be the personal quarters of Symin, Purah’s assistant, but as she had mentioned, the man’s health had deteriorated, and he now struggled going up and down stairs. A new cabin had appeared next to the orchard, and the second floor was now the extension of the lab dedicated to chemicals, Purah’s new interest.

“I am not sending anything written,” started Purah, jumping on a stool next to what looked like a model of the giant telescope hanging of the roof outside, “we cannot risk it again. You will save some graphics I prepared with your slate; the rest, you will put it in that vast free space you’ve got inside your skull, alright? So sit down and pay attention.”

Link took a sip from his mug to hide whatever face he was making —couldn’t be a friendly one, that for sure—, and sat down on the nearest chair.

“What your people sent me in those buckets is the most disgusting sample of organic tissue I have ever seen,” said Purah, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, “I pity the soldier who had to pack everything together and I expect the royals to give them a new rank, a house or something to compensate.”

Link nodded. Dunma already had a new rank, but she still deserved the world.

“Following the information that you gave me, my first goal was to isolate and study the antidote they used to make Cullen immune to the poison. It took me a while, more than I expected, at least. This man Circe knows his stuff.” Purah paused to make an exaggerated pout, “He might also have access to sheikah technology, I am afraid.”

Link took another sip. The Goron spice warmed the back of his mouth up, which felt good. Purah proceeded to explain the alchemy principles and the chemical reactions involved in her research. She went into deep detail, doodling in a chalkboard and making demonstrations with books and tools she collected around the room. Evidently, Symin’s illness had deprived her from a peer to talk about science, and she was not about to waste the chance of having someone listening to her.

“I bet Circe never told Cullen that the antidote was toxic in the long run. One ingestion is enough to compromise the nerves, and the more permeable the organism, the greater the risk. Even if I unveil the precise formula, I would not risk it as a vaccine for our soldiers. I mean, the only reason Prince Sidon and the other Zora who were exposed to Cullen’s blood are not having seizures right now is because the antidote reacted to Cullen’s body and his cells took all the damage.”

Link chugged what was left of the milk to drown the sudden burst of boiling rage threatening to burn everything inside him. The mere thought of Sidon suffering from seizures because of that damn poison made him think of committing atrocities never seen under the loving sight of Goddess Hylia.

[Are you sure of that?] He signed.

“Of what?”

[The Zora.]

“Ah. Yes, they are ok. The antidote must be completely settled in the body before the poison can be injected with no risk, and by that point the luminous energy has been metabolized, it cannot react anymore.”

Luminous energy. Purah called it so because it was soft and blue-green like the glow of the luminous stones, but it didn’t come from there. It didn’t come from star fragments or lightning either, and it was not related to fairies. The origin of that energy was the last missing piece she needed to decode the enigma.

[Do you think Circe drank the antidote?]

Purah pinched her chin, pensive.

“I would not do it myself,” she replied after a while, “but maybe that’s because I already lived through bad choices, risk miscalculation and the consequences of a failed experiment.” Purah stopped to look at her tiny hands with disapproval, “Circe is not particularly old, and he might still think he’s infallible.”

[Do you know him? Have you seen him?]

“No, but I’m sure we think alike.”

That was a grim thing to say for a child, even if Purah was actually around two centuries old.

“We can’t be sure about Circe himself, but it’s better to assume all the people under his command drank the antidote and the poison. The concoction is helping them control the monsters they are using for the war, too, as it changes the body odour to something friendlier to the blin noses.”

Link wrinkled his own nose. Purah giggled and jumped down the stool she was using as a stage.

“What are you thinking about?”

[I met a man named Kilton, once,] Link replied, [he could smell the monsters I had killed.]

“Oh, really?”

[He bought monster parts but never made an elixir. His business was the monster extract, the one you need to make monster cake.]

Purah made a little jump, a childish grin covered her face from side to side.

“Can you find this person?”

Link had not seen him in ages; after the Calamity, the man had gone completely under the radar. He nodded affirmatively, anyway.

“Look, I might not have the full recipe for Circe’s antidote, but I do have it for the poison, and one of the ingredients is monster extract,” Purah said, overjoyed, “I cannot know if Circe is buying it from this Kilton guy, or if he copied the recipe, but I think it is the first because the monster extract is not easy to make at all, especially since the blood moon appears no more! If you find Kilton, he may lead you to Circe. Check it!”

Link managed a half-smile and weak finger guns before Purah could get upset at his lack of enthusiasm.

“That’s one lead, and the other is the luminous energy itself,” Purah took a step forward and grabbed Link by the shoulders, which startled him, “this energy is extremely rare, Linky, there can be only one source for it in the entire kingdom. Do you understand what I mean?”

[Circe is at the source,] he answered, this time sharing the enthusiasm, [we might find him protecting it.]

“You have a knack to finding the weirdest stuff. If anyone has seen mystical blue-green energy coming from nowhere, that’s you, right? So give it some thought, will you? Squeeze those brains! And now, take the slate out, I need to transfer you some files.”

Back on the first floor, and while Purah added photos to the sheikah slate with the guidance stone, Link grew restless. He had to go to Gerudo Town to report to Zelda next, he would see her in just a couple hours. There was a possibility Circe realized his antidote was deadlier than his poison and used it to attack Zora and Rito people, which Purah said were the most vulnerable. The Zora more than the Rito, as they had permanent contact with water, which could be poisoned. There was no time. He needed the head of that man before it could produce any other awful idea. He needed to protect Sidon.

“I am ready” declared Purah, “are you?”

Link wanted to say yes, but the face of Zelda surrounded by Riju and the Gerudo commanders invaded his mind and froze him in place. Couldn’t he go adventuring in search of the luminous energy instead? That’d be neat. Or go straight back to Leias and tell Sidon everything, then maybe ask for a meeting with Zelda in Zora’s Domain so the prince could explain everything to his future wife. Purah took one of Link’s hands with her own, pulling him back to reality.

“I have heard about how you ended becoming a champion of the Zora crown”, she said, a hint of concern in her voice, “your face tells me you have not talked with Zelda ever since, right?”

[She wrote me a letter.]

“That obviously doesn’t count.”

Link shrugged.

“Come on, you are the Hero of Hyrule, you cannot be afraid of your own princess!”

Link pulled his hand and grumbled, his ears getting bright hot and red in an instant. He was not afraid of the princess. He was angry, oh, so angry still, and he felt unworthy, so unworthy of the titles and praise he received everywhere when he was so resentful and… petty. Sidon was right, it was ridiculous that he was still so upset, it had been months, months of bliss in Zora’s Domain, slowing down for the first time in his life, knowing some sort of happiness next to his new master, the most gentle, caring and understanding man he had ever met. Would he rather be going from one battle to the next, putting his face out there for popularity points during Zelda’s speeches and following her every order instead? Of course not. He wanted to take Sidon back to the Domain and be with him when his child hatched, and stay there and teach the kid to use the spear like Mipha used to, and just… be there, with Sidon, for as long as the limited Hylian lifespan allowed him to.

But it was Zelda the one to marry the Zora prince, and as soon as she became queen of the Domain and got back her rights over Link, she would send him to the wild world to do whatever deed she needed, mandating over him as if he were a chess piece. If she had managed to do just that before marrying the prince, what could Link expect? The whole ordeal had turned out well for him out of pure luck. To be honest, if it served her purposes, Zelda would have the nerve to give him away to the Yiga Clan instead of to the Zora.

“Link! This is not like you”.

Link blinked and turned to Purah, who was about to tear up.

“I know you can’t remember well and I don’t say this to hurt you, but we were friends before the Calamity; Impa, Robbie, the princess, you and me” she said with a trembling voice, “I don’t understand why you think so badly of Zelda, it shows on your face, you think she’s a monster!”

[I am sorry, don’t cry, please] asked Link, regretting seeing such an old lady, such a small child, being upset because of him, [she made me very sad, that’s all. I promise I will try to talk it through with her today.]

“You better. She cares about you a lot, you know? You two are just too hot-headed to tell the other what you feel. I can’t stand it! Go, go and give her my research results, don’t mess it up, you airhead”.

Link arched his brows, surprised. Purah crossed her arms over her chest and puffed her cheeks. After a couple seconds, however, both smiled. Link left the zori sandals next to the door.

[I will find Circe thanks to you.]

-

The dry wind of the desert hit Link in the face as soon as he materialized at the top of Wasteland tower. The sun was setting down and the cloudless sky shined with a thousand shades of red. In the distance, Kara Kara Bazaar could be seen full of life; a big battalion was stationed there. Gerudo Town, even further away, was also surrounded by tents, wagons and piles of provisions.

One day, Castle Town would look the same. Like in the old times. Maybe. Link took the paraglider out and stood at the edge of the tower.

The sunset reminded him of Sidon, of how he looked at night, next to a fire, maybe with a mischievous soft smile in his face and a bottle of rum at hand, the flames dancing on his scales, making his golden eyes warm like the sun. He would probably like the view, but the desert was no place for a Zora.

Breath in.

Link needed to hurry, and he also needed to calm down. With no hesitation, he fixed his eyes in the vastness of the desert and jumped off the tower. The cloth of the paraglider opened in a second, taking him over crimson cliffs and yellow dunes.

Breath out. And enjoy.

Even if gliding was strenuous for the arms, he found it extremely relaxing. He stretched his whole body in the air and let the wind guide him towards the oasis. It was not too bad, was it? There was Noble Pursuit and Gerudo hospitality, nothing could be really awful with those two things at hand.

The conditions were good enough for Link to glide all the way to the top of the Kara Kara Bazaar inn. He didn’t want to risk being mistaken for an enemy and taken down with arrows, though, so he manoeuvred out of course and landed on a flat rock half a mile away from the bazaar. There, he put his Gerudo Vai outfit on, which, for the sake of variety, he had dyed crimson at Sayge’s shop before leaving Hateno. It was a good color, and the veil still had the soft scent of apples.

He had been instructed to go inside the inn and look for a pink-haired Gerudo whose mask had the princess’ crest embroidered. When he approached the bazaar, however, he heard something that completely took his mind out of the task.

_Can you hear the Zora folk sing?  
Their young princess has fallen in love  
Voices turn into crying and screams  
Cruel ice has the Domain destroyed_

It was the voice of his old friend Kass, the Rito bard who travelled the world looking for songs of legend. What on earth was he doing there, so far from his home, in the midst of a civil war?

_And she stands by the window alone  
staring into the ruin  
she is trying to guide his way home  
through the sands of time they are struggling_

_She sings all her songs for her Hylian beloved  
captive and blind by the darkness around  
firm as Lanayru, she never will mourn  
timeless awaiting the break of dawn!_

Link found Kass under a tent next to the main building, surrounded by a mixed group of Gerudo and Hylians who gently swayed to the melody of his accordion.

_Can you hear the Hero in the wind?  
He has got the voice of the storm  
the Goddess bestowed upon him  
a musical wonder of old_

_And with it he travels through time  
and he seals the evil’s fate  
he pursuits the divine design  
fighting for their curse to be lifted_

_She sings all her songs for her Hylian beloved  
captive and blind by the darkness around  
each song a promise, a new hope reborn  
the Hero returns at the break of dawn!_

The moved crowd broke into applause when Kass finished his ballad. Now that was some sentimental song Sidon would love.

“Thank you kindly for listening to me,” the bard told his audience, “if you an excuse me now, my humble beak needs some refreshing hydromelon.”

“Sarqso, vure voe!” yelled an old Gerudo, “let’s hear a song of the desert while he’s gone!”

Another Gerudo jumped from her chair to replace Kass. Looking content, he briefly ruffled his feathers and set forth to the fruit seller tent at the other side of the oasis, where he found Link waiting for him with two hydromelons already at hand.

“Go figure!” said the Rito, “it has been a long time, you!”

Link put on a big grin, forgetting that the veil covered it completely, and offered one fruit to Kass. He received it with pleasure and nodded, indicating Link to follow him to a rock in front of the natural pool that was the centre of the bazaar’s life.

“I thought of finding you everywhere but here,” Kass admitted once they sat down, “I’ve heard of your endeavours on the road, people speak of you serving under Prince Sidon of the Zora crown.”

Link nodded. Kass looked at him for a couple seconds, clicked his beak twice and then extended one of his wings. He didn’t understand Hylian sign language (almost no Rito did) and he knew when the champion needed a surface to write.

«It is true, he is my master now,» Link wrote.

“Is everything true?”

Link frowned, a question on his face. Amused, the bard cut the hydromelon in half with a single movement of his sharp beak and took a first bite of the delicious cold flesh inside.

“Your story, the one I heard, lead me to learn the ballad I was singing just now,” explained Kass, “I knew of stories about the timeless bond between the soul of the hero and the Zora crown, but it had not caught my interest until I heard that Prince Sidon is madly in love with you.”

Link almost choked on his hydromelon. Kass eyed him, biting down a smile.

“Apparently, they say, the Prince had wanted the hero on his court ever since they first met, but he is a noble man and thus waited for Princess Zelda to officially visit the domain after the Calamity’s defeat before doing his proposal. He begged her to leave the champion in the Domain, or so is the rumour. He promised important aid to the princess’ campaign if she agreed, the renewal of the alliance between the Hylians and the Zora.”

That piece of gossip was wild, even for tavern standards. Link waved his arms around, unable to decide where to start disproving the whole thing. Kass giggled and took a big bite of hydromelon.

“As the story goes, princess Zelda was moved by the prince’s confession of love. She took her champion to Ruto’s lake so they could speak in private, and there she told him about the prince’s feelings. The champion heard in Zelda the voice of the Goddess Hylia, who reminded him of the great love that princess Ruto, the one in whose honour the lakes and mountains of Zora’s Domain are named, had for the Hero of Time, that warrior of legend who also wielded the sacred blade. The Goddess told the champion that it was time to breathe and rest, too, and with her divine blessing, the champion decided to stay in the Domain.”

Now that sounded like shameless Zelda propaganda. The voice of the Goddess in her? Sidon _begging_ her? Link was at loss of words (not that he could speak, anyway). He barely managed to gape like a fish, feeling unbearably flustered.

“Oh, no, dear friend! My intention was not to sadden you, don’t let my bluntness make you cry,” said Kass, not a trace of mockery in his voice. Link realized his eyes were full of tears. He blinked, confused, and then shook his head vigorously, scandalized at his own dramatic reaction, “if you don’t want to share the details, I won’t ask for them, as I tell you, this is just a recount of tavern rumours.”

Link sighed. He wanted to explain to Kass how everything had actually happened, but he didn’t have much time, and besides, he would be lying to himself if he said Kass’ version was not… better. Or comforting, at least; it was one where Sidon was not forced into marriage for political strategies, and one where Zelda listened to him and allowed him to decide over his own life.

«Zelda is going to marry Sidon,» Link wrote on Kass’ feathery hand, «she offered me as proposal gift.»

“Is that so?”

«I did not know about princess Ruto and my ancestor.»

Kass blinked slowly once, acknowledging that Link didn’t want to go into detail. He had golden eyes, gentle and peaceful, just like Sidon’s. 

“A lot of songs about the Hero of Time have survived through millennia, he might be the one among the chosen heroes I know the most about. I can sing other parts of his story with princess Ruto of the Zora another day, in a happy occasion, perhaps?”

A happy occasion. Link couldn’t help but smile.

«Would you sing for Prince Sidon too?»

“Always an honour to share my art at the court.”

«What are you doing here, anyway?»

Kass chuckled. Link felt a goosebump down his spine. The sun was about to disappear behind the dunes, which meant the temperature was going to take a nose dive any moment.

“What I always do: unveil secrets of the past through my music. I am not a warrior like you; this is how I strive for the glory of Hyrule.”

Link shivered, half the hydromelon still in his hands. The night had come and the breath of the desert was frozen. Kass raised his wing with no comment and Link moved to get under it, feeling better immediately. That was the magic of Rito feathers, always warm to endure snowy climates.

“It’s time for you to go to the town, little lady.”

Link giggled despite himself.

«What do you know about Fang and Bone?» he wrote inside Kass’ wing, «have you heard if Kilton’s still in business?»

“A couple nights ago, a Gerudo vorai* by the name of Morana came looking for bounty hunters, they want to slay a brute of sand to sell its fins to a mysterious travelling merchant and its guts to the royal infirmary.”

A mysterious travelling merchant? One who offered enough rupees for molduga fins that the Gerudo would rather sell them to him instead of the traders inside the town? Link could bet such enigmatic figure opened his shop next to towns only during the dead of moonless nights. Now that was some good luck.

«I am very glad to have found you here, Kass,» he wrote and softly left his friend’s side, shaking to endure the cold while he managed to get inside the inn, «say hi to Amali and the girls for me.»

“They will be happy to know you remember them,” answered Kass and bowed slightly with the head, “farewell for now, dear friend. May the light of the Goddess guide you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Zora's love song that Kass performs is based on "A Sailorman's Hymn" by the band Kamelot. I changed the lyrics to accomodate to the context of the story.
> 
> *This is not a typo, I will introduce the concept of Gerudo vorai in the next chapter.
> 
> Also, if you like all things Zelda, consider joining my Zelda-themed Discord server, the Hyrule Hideout! We are a small community dedicated to fancreation and theory alike, always willing to share a good time and speak about our favourite videogames. Join here: https://discord.gg/jAhwnBwaSG


	2. Little Vure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link finally has his dreaded encounter with Zelda and things go well, but horribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Vure" is the word in Gerudo language for "bird". I am very aware of the fact the English translation of Breath of the Wild has Urbosa calling Zelda "little bird", but I just think of it as a rather common petname among Gerudo people, the popularity of which probably rose after Zelda's mom taught it to Urbosa.
> 
> Quotations ("_") indicate spoken dialogue, square brackets ([_]) indicate sign language, and double angle quotations («_») indicate written words that are spelled on a person's skin.

Coming back from her quarters upstairs, where she had gone looking for a shawl after an eternity of enduring the chilly night just so she didn’t miss his entrance, Zelda found Link (of course she did!), looking sombre enough to feel menacing despite the fact he was dressed in a cute, kind of childish red Gerudo outfit and had no weapons with him, not even a shield. Riju, sat on her throne, did her best effort not to burst laughing at the princess’ raging disbelief. Buliara, to her side, was so indifferent she could have been a statue and not make any difference.

“You are dismissed,” Zelda told the sentinel in charge of bringing Link inside the town, “thank you.”

“Your Majesty, Your Highness,” answered the sentinel, bowing towards Riju and Zelda respectively, and then swiftly left the room.

Zelda could see Riju’s lips curving upwards in mockery. She knew too well how immensely awkward the whole situation was. Taking a deep breath, Zelda opted to ignore her.

“Let me start by saying I am very glad and relieved you made it here with no complications,” she said and stood in front of Link, pretending to check his general state, maybe looking for new scars, to avoid his trademarked blank stare, an absent gaze she had learned meant he was enduring a miserable situation only because he _had_ to, “I knew this mission could only be entrusted to you.”

[It is an honour.]

Link’s movement was sharp and fast, the equivalent in signing language of speaking in monosyllables. And she expected to hear his voice! Sometimes, Zelda was amazed at her own foolish optimism.

“I am most grateful for the recovery of Leias Fortress, too;” she continued, pacing around Link to keep herself entertained, “it was a massively successful campaign. I cannot begin to describe how reassured I feel by Prince Sidon’s military proficiency and commitment, and how relieved I am that you are by his side to protect him.”

Link breathed slowly. Zelda could see the tension in his face, how his jaw clenched under the Gerudo veil.

“I promise I won’t keep you entertained for long,” she blurted, getting nervous, “believe me, it is my priority to ensure that my fiancé can go back home as soon as possible, so both he and his champion can be present for the hatching of the eggs.”

Eggs. With an S at the end. As in, more than one.

Link turned towards Zelda and took a step forward; for a moment, she thought he was going to take her by the shoulders. They looked at each other’s eyes, growing anxious because they could not read each other’s thoughts.

“What’s the matter?” Riju asked from the throne.

“Eggs?” Link said, his voice a raspy and quiet murmur.

“I… I thought you were aware Iphigenia was pregnant.”

“More than one?”

“Ah, oh, I see,” Zelda took a moment to breath and allowed herself to smile. Link looked at her, full of confusion, “yes, there are three eggs.”

Every worry Link had about Zelda, Circe, the war and whatever else was going on got obliterated instantly. Three eggs. Three! What were the odds? The Zora almost never had more than one at a time and birthing them was already an odyssey. Would all survive the hatching? Were they more likely or less likely to survive, anyway? Sidon would go crazy. He was not ready, neither was Link, hell, probably not even Iphigenia was ready!

[Is Iphigenia ok?] he managed to ask with trembling hands.

“She survived, barely. When I left the Domain, though, she was starting to recover.”

Zelda, in the Domain, while Sidon and Link were busting their asses seizing Leias Fortress for her? Of course. The sneaky damn royals and their intrigues. If it were not for the Gerudo veil, Link would have pulled half his hair right then and there. To think Iphigenia had had to lay three whole Zora eggs with Zelda’s support. _Zelda’s support_.

“I say we go upstairs and find this poor vure something to drink,” said Riju, startling both Link and Zelda, who had not noticed the Gerudo chieftain had left her throne to approach them, “he looks like when we tell a voe he is gonna father one of us.”

-

Link was expecting a gallon of Noble Pursuit, but he was given an eccentric voltfruit coconut-milk shake instead. It would have to do, it matched Riju’s taste and she was the owner of the house.

“Help yourself with a straw so you don’t make a mess of the face veil,” Riju told him while sitting comfortably among a bunch of big sand seal plush toys, “nice colour choice, by the way, you look right at home like that, red-headed.”

Zelda couldn’t help but observe the crimson shade Link had chosen for his outfit was the same as Sidon’s scales, and that the normally golden jewerly had been replaced by silver, more in line with Zora aesthetic. From afar, and the right angle, maybe, she could mistake her champion for a young version of Mipha, the Goddess bless her soul.

“So, how much on a hurry are we with these eggs business?” Riju asked, stirring her own shake after adding a concerning amount of sugarcane extract, “you will excuse me if I don’t know much about the Zora; as you can imagine, I rarely have the chance to meet them.”

“It depends on the water temperature, along other factors,” answered Zelda, “but with ideal conditions —and I am sure the Domain will guarantee perfect conditions—, the hatching is bound to happen in around twenty days.”

“Let’s think two weeks, for safe measure,” Riju said and took a long sip of shake. Link followed. The thing wasn’t half bad, but Link could imagine Purah calling it baby bottle too. Babies, three of them. Damn. Link wasn’t even aware of having spent enough time in the military campaign for Iphigenia to lay the egg…. eggs, at all.

“What’s your idea, exactly?” Riju asked Zelda, “there is absolutely no way we can secure Leias Fortress and withdraw all the Zora units in that timeframe.”

“I didn’t plan on removing all the Zora,” said Zelda and sighed, “rather I wanted to ask, Link, if there’s a capable Zora commander, maybe a captain, that you would trust with holding that post in the name of their crown while you and Prince Sidon go back to the Domain. Delegating it was part of the plan, anyway, as keeping King Dorephan and Prince Sidon apart just so the latter can guard a fortress, no matter how important the place is, is as disrespectful as it is a waste of talent.”

Link looked down. Dunma was capable and trustworthy, but all Zora were too vulnerable to an attack if Circe realized he could use the antidote to his poison as weapon. Link left his beverage aside and looked at his hands for a second.

[All Zora soldiers must retreat to the Domain as soon as possible and all water sources must be secured,] he signed, making his movements as clear as possible, [the Gerudo warrior Calyban could be in charge of Leias in the name of Hyrule’s crown.]

“Ah, Calyban, a wicked one, that woman, not quite reliable unless you really earn her respect,” said Riju, amused, “which I bet you did, Champion.”

Link took his glass again. Calyban had seen him in more shameful situations than anything, but that had strengthened their trust. Probably. Link made a mental note of looking for Sandra, Calyban’s sister, before leaving. He didn’t know exactly what he would tell her, now that Sandra was married and all, but he wanted to see a familiar face.

“Why do all of them have to go back? What do you fear could happen to the water in Zora’s Domain?” Zelda asked, frowning slightly, “does it have to do with what Purah discovered?”

Link took a deep breath. It wasn’t even the antidote turned poison what should be worrying him. Circe could pour his regular rage-inducing poison made of malice into the Lanayru Great Spring and cause a tragedy just as big and devastating. The threat had been there all along; if the Zora had survived the Calamity, it was because Vah Ruta could only produce water and not poison, ice, lightening or whatever else. Sidon and the others would most definitely not appreciate that Link considered them so vulnerable; they were strong warriors and they did have watchtowers and sentinels stationed around the natural springs of the Domain, but he could not help it. What if poison reached the pool of the eggs?

Zelda softly touched Link’s arm, startling him.

“It troubles me to see you so full of worry,” she said with the softest voice, “you sense a great danger, I can see, and I understand why you would think you have to fix it all by yourself, but I am here, with all the forces of Hyrule, to back you up, I…” Zelda hesitated and removed her hand, Link’s heart raced, “I might have given your loyalty away to Prince Sidon, but I have not forsaken you; you are the lifeblood of my kingdom and we are a team, the team that defeated the Calamity! Just tell me what is this threat and I will ensure we have the means to vanquish it.”

Maybe she cared, after all? No, it couldn’t be true, it was another royal speech, conveniently tailored to the situation. But she looked so sincere, so eager to help, to give back! And what if it was a lie, always that she provided whatever he needed to protect his adored Prince? What if it was not a lie? Link felt like laughing, but he didn’t know if it was because of joy, disbelief, or something else.

He reached for Zelda’s hand, the same that had shined with the power of the ancient goddesses to seal the Calamity after he shot the fatal arrow. The euphoria he had felt then, destroying the evil presence of Ganon together with who he thought was his most trustworthy, dear friend. Everything had changed, for the worse, he’d say, if it was not for Sidon. Zelda held Link’s hand with hers, no blush, no hesitation, just a bit of sadness for the bond they didn’t share anymore.

“Not to brag, but we Gerudo are experts in guarding water,” intervened Riju, annoyed by the gloomy turn of the conversation, “we got to be, having so little to depend on. I can send Teake’s regiment to Zora’s Domain and whoever she can spare can go to Leias and join Calyban. We move Prince Sidon and his immediate guard first, then the other Zora. I don’t think the entire party can make it to see the babies hatch, but this is the fastest action I can think of, as it doesn’t involve the Hylian council.”

“I would like to understand the whole picture before taking decisions,” answered Zelda and looked back to Link, “please, tell us what Purah found,” she asked, softly squeezed his hand, and let go.

Monster extract, luminous energy, altered Sheikah technology, the antidote that could cause seizures. Link explained everything the best he could with signs and the occasional writing, plus the photos and diagrams that Purah had saved in the Sheikah slate. By the end of it, Riju’s and Zelda’s fury was almost tangible.

“I honest to the Goddess Hylia cannot figure out how this miserable excuse of a Hylian Circe managed to become more of a pig than Calamity Ganon,” complained Zelda, “I remember a couple of his ancestors were part of my father’s personal guard back in the day, good and brave soldiers, Ekabe and Hektor were their names. To think the honour of their house would be stained in this way, disgusting.”

A remote little part of Link’s mind panicked at the realization Zelda remembered Hektor. She didn’t give him any teasing look, which pointed at her not knowing about _that story_ , but it could be because she thought he was the one who did not remember.

“Look at the bright side: we are lucky this luminous energy Purah mentioned is so rare, it makes impossible for Circe to perform a large scale attack or poison big bodies of water,” said Riju, stirring her second glass of milkshake, “I guess it is the same with the rage poison, otherwise he would be targeting our settlements or battalions instead of going after the messengers.”

“I agree, he’s not going after big targets because he can’t, but that only makes him more cunning,” replied Zelda and then she took a moment to look at Link and ponder how she was going to word what she was about to say, “now that Leias has been taken from him by the Zora, he has a reason to strike that kingdom where he can hurt them and their alliance with me the most, and that’s either by taking down Prince Sidon, or if he finds out about the eggs, then the eggs.”

A wave of cold rage washed over Link. He knew Zelda had realized that Sidon would become a living target after succeeding in Leias, back when she was planning the whole thing. She had revealed as much in the letter she had sent him, yet the audacity of saying it out loud as if it was Link’s fault somehow was inadmissible. And she did it because she counted with Link. She assumed as a fact that he would be able to protect Sidon, and therefore her alliance with the Zora kingdom, bring Circe’s head to her on command, and then go off to fight the moon if so she wanted.

The worst part is that she was right. Link had eaten that stupid letter like the dumb dog he was, and he was about to promise her, on the spot, that he would fulfil her request in the next two weeks.

“I will kill Circe in time to join the Prince’s caravan back to the Domain,” he said, hating every word and the weak, disgraceful raspy voice he used to say them out loud, “I have a lead, it is a matter of days.”

“Link! I…”

“Promise something,” he interrupted, “this is the only thing I will ask of you, it’s the only thing I want.”

Zelda looked confused, but she nodded vigorously after a second.

“Promise me you will never summon Prince Sidon to the battlefield again, no matter how much of ‘a waste of talent’ that is. Don’t ever put him in danger for your cause again.”

“Do I count with you still?” she replied, surprising both Link and Riju.

Zelda didn’t stop there. She moved to get on her knees as if she wanted to crawl towards Link, a position disturbingly reminiscent of begging, and raised a hand as if she wanted to touch his face.

“Will you still fight for my cause?” she asked with a broken voice.

Link froze in place. Crawling backwards to avoid her was just as bad as leaning towards her. What was going on?

“I am bound to the will of my master,” he said, averting his gaze, “I will do as he says.”

“Get it together, Princess, this is ridiculous,” intervened Riju, who was as scandalized by Zelda’s attitude as Link was, “you are to marry Prince Sidon and claim authority over his military forces, anyway, what are you fretting about?”

“Do you still believe in my cause, Link?”

What did that even mean? Of course Link believed in a unified Hyrule in which people could live without the threat of starvation, sickness or war, thriving under the protection of the goddesses whose power was imbued in Zelda. He had busted his ass freeing divine beasts, clearing shrines and activating towers to make it possible, he had faced every conceivable monstrosity across the land because he wanted to bring Zelda back to her people and see her take her rightful place as leader. She had woken him up saying he was the light that had to shine upon Hyrule once again, but that title belonged to her. He was just a tool.

“Link, do you believe in me?”

Cornered, Link nodded and thanked the Gerudo veil for hiding the burning blush he felt across his face. Zelda smiled, relieved to the point tears filled her eyes.

“I will put Sidon’s safety above everything and I will never ask him nor his children to go to war, not in my behalf or anyone else’s,” she said and crossed her hands over her chest, a big smile on her lips, “I promise over Circe’s head.”

-

The Noble Canteen was too public for the ugly-crying while drunk moment Link was craving when he left Riju’s palace. Instead, he headed southwest, trying to convince himself that he had the best chances of finding Morana, the bounty hunter vorai mentioned by Kass, in the Gerudo Secret Club, and that going there for a massage and a fuckton of alcohol was just part of the job. He also prayed in silence for the password to be the same as last time; he did not have the head or energy to argue with Greta, the owner, if that was not the case.

“What’s the password?” he heard Greta ask as soon as he knocked.

“G…” he replied, but his voice cracked and the word didn’t come through.

“Come again?”

Link tried again and nothing came out of his mouth. Oh, fuck. His throat constricted and cold sweat made the chilly night become as harsh as Tabantha’s snow storms. He leaned on the door and struggled to breath, gaping like a fish out of the water.

“If you don’t know the password, please go away.”

“Is everything alright, little vai?”

A shadow towered over Link. He managed to look up and saw an imposing figure crowned with a luscious red ponytail. A soldier? What had he done? The world started to spin.

“Password GSC diamond,” the stranger said, knocking the door, “hurry up, someone needs help here.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Greta complained and Link could hear her heels on the cobblestone.

He tried to recover his balance before Greta opened the door, so he didn’t land face first into her iron abs and then the floor, but his limbs did not answer. The stranger got closer and held him by the waist with one arm just in time, but Link just felt the need to flee at once and find somewhere safe.

Greta recognized him and said something, but Link couldn’t understand, busy as he was trying not to run away without blacking out. He was carried inside and left on a low couch. Half his mind wanted to curl into a ball and hope Daruk’s protection activated to help him out of whatever trouble he was in, the other wanted to stand up and go back into the open to fight asphyxia.

“Oh, my little vure, what happened to you?” a familiar voice asked.

It was Ashai, the Gerudo who taught young vai how to cook and how to love so they could find a good match when they left to travel the world. She had generously showed both her skills to Link in the past, and he was happy to see her and let her pamper him to death every time he was around. Link felt her hands on his face and realized she was trying to remove the veils.

He resisted, fearing he would end being kicked out of the town in the middle of the freezing night, even if it had been at least a year since everybody and their moms in Gerudo town knew he was indeed a he, and made him wear vai clothes just because they thought he looked too cute not to.

“Link, honey, it’s me, Ashai, I got you,” Ashai reassured him with gentle hands and managed to remove his circlet and head veil, “you are safe, sweetheart, you are fine.”

When Ashai removed his face veil, Link could catch the aroma of fruits and spices. She was probably cooking when he arrived. He felt very hungry, but his head screamed at him that there was something wrong and he couldn’t stop to eat, that he had to leave and run, run until he reached Leias.

“There, follow my breath,” she indicated once she freed Link from the veils and the chest piece, holding his hands on her chest, “breathe with me, love.” 

It was painful. Link needed to flee at once, and kill Circe and throw himself out of Shatterback Point right after so there wasn’t a chance he slapped Zelda or tripped over nothing and broke the shells of Sidon’s children and ruined anything, everything, everything again as he had done when he fell in Fort Hateno and made Zelda seal herself with a pestilent pig for one hundred years, giving her the moral ground to ask anything out of him and sweep the floor with his head if she wanted and force him to kill on command in exchange of Sidon’s safety. It was not as if he didn’t know that was exactly his situation before Zelda worded it the way she had, but it hurt so much, so damn much, and there he was, unable to breathe while Circe was out there spilling toxic malice oil into the waters for the ultimate demise of Zora’s Domain.

A soothing aroma reached him. Blue Nightshade. Warm Saffina. Honey. Following a sudden instinct, he hugged Ashai, feeling her breathing very close against his chest. He followed her rhythm, finally. If only he was at the other side of the kingdom and could lie on top of Sidon to feel his thundering heart!

“There, well done, my little vure, breathe, I am with you,” said Ashai in a whisper, picked him up and sat on the couch herself. Link didn’t let her go, and his troubled breathing became sobbing, “oh, sweetheart, it’s ok, it’s over, you are fine.”

“What on earth happened to him?” asked Greta, uncomfortable.

“So he’s a voe?” asked the stranger, “I thought he was a child vai, being so small.”

“You are not the only one who thought that, I mistook him for a mistreated child vai, maybe a runaway servant, when I first met him, but the scars are from battle, not from an abusive master,” Greta explained, “I guess it’s just natural given that he’s rather short for a Hylian.”

“A mighty tiny soldier, then,” observed the stranger, “those marks are no joke.”

“He’s the Hero chosen by the blade,” Ashai said, undoing Link’s hair tie, “he’s the one who retrieved the Thunder Helm for us, destroyed the Yiga clan hideout, freed the Divine Beast Vah Naboris and slayed Calamity Ganon. Brave little vure, isn’t that right? Tell me what’s hurting you.”

Link took a long, stuttering deep breath. So much for his heroic deeds when he was a sobbing half-naked mess, ugly-crying like a child on mama’s lap while not drunk (outrageous!), and being mistaken for a prepubescent Hylian damsel. Ashai started combing his hair with her fingers, and the gentle scratch of her long nails reminded him of Sidon’s claws. He tried to write something on her skin, but his hands were trembling too much.

“If he’s the warrior of legend indeed, then we must fear whoever made this to him,” said the stranger with some humour, “they must be a formidable foe.”

“If the rumours are true, I can guess it was Her Highness Princess Zelda, wasn’t her?” ventured Ashai, caressing Link’s face and hair, “she broke your heart, nothing else could bring you down.”

What rumours? The ones Kass had mentioned? Link shuddered. He couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of gossip people were sharing about that stupid marriage and his role in it.

“Vai are a menace,” said the stranger with a chuckle, and something in their voice stopped Link’s train of thought.

He looked at them. A tall Gerudo with dark skin and crimson red hair, sporting a fake red goatee made of gold with a ruby in the centre instead of the traditional blue or green lipstick, sat across the lounge with the legs spread. They were wearing a plain top and slim trousers covered in golden greaves that also protected their heel-less shoes. A vorai, no doubt. One that smiled to him with no emotion, probably expecting him to make a stupid question.

“That’s Morana,” Ashai said, “Morana, this is Link.”

“My pleasure, Master Link.”

Not _a_ vorai, but _the_ vorai Link was looking for. Finding them pulled him back to his senses. He raised a hand to write on Ashai’s skin, just above the collarbone.

«Signing?»

Ashai nodded.

Link tried to stand up to address them properly, but he found himself dizzy and very cold, and had to remain on Ashai’s lap.

“Easy,” she said and helped him sit down straight.

Bothered, Link took off his sleeves, which Ashai had not removed, while praying for the bounty hunter to hear him out despite the disgraceful show he had just given them. Evening his breathing against Ashai’s body, Link noticed the room was a bit foggy, and realized there was a concoction boiling in a corner. That had to be the source of the soothing aroma.

“Now, Master Link, I see you’ve heard my name before,” Morana said with a somewhat dangerous smile, “care to tell me where, or how?”

Link hold Morana's gaze for a bit and took a deep breath.

[A traveller in Kara Kara Bazaar told me you were looking for bounty hunters,] he replied.

“Is that so?”

[They told me you want to hunt a Molduga. I can kill it for you.]

Morana just arched an eyebrow. Ashai gently moved Link to the side so she could stand up.

“You talk your business while I finish my hearty soup for you, alright, honey?” she said and reached for a beautiful cotton shawl with Gerudo embroidery to wrap him up before she left, “if you feel unwell again, give me a sign.”

[Thank you,] he replied while his stomach grumbled in anticipation, [for everything, I’ll love you forever.]

Ashai winked at him and left. Rolling her eyes, Greta sat behind the counter and resumed her work on a piece of jewerly Link could not identify.

“Just so you know, there’s no loot to spare, I need all the fins and guts” Morana said, “I can offer you money, though.”

[I’m only looking for your client, I need to ask him some stuff.]

“If you know who he is, you also know he really doesn’t like to be found, and I won’t risk losing that connection.”

[He knows who I am,] Link protested, [we are friends… sort of.]

Morana let out a guffaw. To be fair, the mere idea of someone being friends with Kilton was pretty absurd.

“Why can’t you find him yourself, if you are friends?”

[He took the end of the blood moon badly and he’s cross with me, I think,] Link ventured, a bit nervous, [or maybe I’ve just been busy and lost track of his shop.]

“Maybe,” said Morana, “tell me the name of the shop, if that’s alright?”

[Fang and Bone.]

“Very well,” Morana considered their options for a second, looking at the clothes in offer just left to Link’s couch, “did I understand correctly that you will slay the Molduking for me, as in, no assistance required?”

Link blinked. No one had mentioned Molduking, he thought it was a regular Molduga. The monster was said to be tough as a stone talus made of diamonds, but it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a generous amount of explosives, he hoped.

Morana smiled when they saw Link nod.

“A lucky encounter, this is,” they declared and stood up, towering over Link. They were tall, even for Gerudo standards, “I’ll go with you, I have some toys that will come in handy,” they said and offered to shake Link’s hand, “tomorrow at half past four in the morning, in the start line of the sand seal race circuit?”

Link hesitated. No matter how good at their job Morana could be, he was able to traverse the desert way faster, thanks to the sheikah slate. He could not spend more than a day hunting the monster down. Morana chuckled.

“Come on, I wouldn’t have gotten the job if I was clueless,” they said, “I know exactly where the nest is and I have cannons already in place. You might be an army on your own, Champion of Hyrule, but I’ll give you the high ground.”

Alright, Link really liked Morana and the subtly gallant yet impertinent tone of their voice. He stood up to shake their hand properly. Morana smiled and patted him in the shoulder.

“Go to the back and get some love from Ashai to be ready for tomorrow then, Master Link” Morana said, “if you excuse me, I’ll go ahead and do what I came here for myself.”

Greta huffed, amused.

“Second door to the left, gorgeous, I will be there in a minute,” she said.

-

“I just dispatched orders to Teake. Assuming she’ll get the message tomorrow, we can expect she arrives in Zora’s Domain in four days,” Riju reported when she came back to the meeting’s room of her palace, “she will deploy all her units across the river so the Prince can safely swim back home, then secure the domain and send as many soldiers as she can to Leias.”

“Good,” muttered Zelda, looking over the lively Gerudo central square and the vast desert beyond the walls. She sighed. “Link didn’t go to the room we prepared for him here, and he didn’t check in at Hotel Oasis or the Kara Kara inn.”

“It isn’t midnight yet, let him live his life.”

“He’s not in the Noble Canteen or in the market either.”

“He’s probably between the legs of one of my subjects, and that’s his business.”

Zelda glared at Riju.

“What?” the chief asked, crossing her arms over her chest, “do you expect him to spend the night praying to the Goddesses who don’t listen to you, on top of everything else?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, and you better listen to me now, too,” Riju looked severe under the candlelight, her expression reminiscent of Lady Urbosa’s fierce determination, “the fact that you have built a name for yourself these last months doesn’t mean we have forgotten what Link did for us, or that we don’t care if you order him around like a dog.”

Zelda gasped, caught completely off guard.

“That you can manipulate him with your pinkie doesn’t mean you should. He’s the Hero of Hyrule, and the people of Hyrule will hold you accountable if something happens to him.”

“What exactly is going to happen to him because of me?” Zelda protested, “you talk as if I was torturing him.”

“You kneeled before him to shame him just hours ago, then you let him go without addressing the fact that you gave him away to Prince Sidon in the exact same way you did with that monstrous mare you found somewhere in the South.”

“I didn’t kneel, we were sitting and I just tried to reach him! And I told him he could ask anything, it is not my fault he didn’t have any questions. He knows his case is different from a stupid horse, come on.”

“You are incorrigible! Pretend you’ve done nothing wrong, then, but know that he’s loved all across the land and that we want to see him getting the respect he deserves.”

“Riju…”

“Good night, Princess!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like all things Zelda, consider joining my Zelda-themed Discord server, the Hyrule Hideout! We are a small community dedicated to fancreation and theory alike, always willing to share a good time and speak about our favourite videogames. Join here: https://discord.gg/jAhwnBwaSG


	3. The Beginning of the Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon is restless. He won't just sit with his arm crossed while his adored friend is away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidon is back to the spotlight!
> 
> Quotations ("_") indicate spoken dialogue, square brackets ([_]) indicate sign language, and double angle quotations («_») indicate written words that are spelled on a person's skin.

“Have a good night, my Prince”

Sidon nodded towards Gaddison without paying much attention. The night was quiet, with few stars and the moon hidden behind the cliffs towards Palmorae Beach. The other troops had also gone to sleep, there was no one awake besides the night watchers and him.

After Link left, Sidon had stayed in front of the flags for a while. The absence of his champion, added to the sight of Zelda’s banners surrounding the colours of his kingdom, slowly deflated his pride. The victory was his, yes, but the war was hers, and she would call the shots for as long as he allowed it. He was, as Link said, “a sweet man” who accepted a rushed marriage proposal out of pure generosity and was realizing the extent of the consequences a bit too late: Zelda’s “gift” of Link meant nothing, as she could call him back whenever, _for the glory of Hyrule._

Ugh.

He spent the rest of the day preparing his interrogation to Lady Ornella, who he planned to approach the next morning. The guards told him that the prisoners, besides living in constant fear of seeing Link again, were in good condition and rather good spirits as well. According to them, Lady Ornella was inclined towards academic studies. She also professed a deep love for stories, and she spent most of her time with her servants reading out loud novels that she had requested were brought to her from her personal library, the one that Dunma now used as office.

Over dinner, he approached Calyban, who was happy to offer a full dramatic rendition of Link’s notoriously violent interrogation. Sidon knew it had been traumatic by reading the reports, but wanted to assess again how bad the impact over the ladies really was.

“Believe me, Prince, I am a terrible person, I truly am,” she said at the end, with the eyes wide open, “but the Captain was so damn awful even I still have nightmares about it. I know it was all a ruse, I saw with my own two eyes that it was a façade, but fuck me, that was some heartless shit, you’ll excuse my language.”

“It’s alright,” Sidon had replied, amused by the Gerudo’s over-the-top narration.

“I bet Ornella and the girls would die if the Captain ever spoke to them with his actual voice.”

“Do you?”

“I mean, Your Highness, have you heard him growl while cutting clean the legs of a horse?”

Sidon frowned. A growl… yes, he had heard that, when Link pierced through the hard skull of a Hinox while mounting a Lynel a few weeks ago… just before dying. Sidon felt sick, remembering his adored champion’s destroyed face and the taste of his blood, his uncanny resurrection, the absurdity of it all. Would Link restrain himself from doing anything reckless while he was away?

“Say,” he heard Calyban, “your people live a long time, don’t you? Maybe you can tell me if the Captain was telling the truth.”

“About what?”

“Were generals like _that_ a century ago?”

Sidon blinked slowly. For some reason, he didn’t want to think about it.

“I can’t really know,” he answered and stood up. Calyban followed immediately. She was tall, as most Gerudo were, yet she barely reached Sidon’s shoulders. “We ceased any and all contact with the Hylians after my dear sister Mipha was killed, and I was just an infant at the time. I am not aware of their common military practices.”

“Ah.”

“Thank you for telling me about the interrogation.”

“Don’t mention it!”

She had an endearing wicked smile. It was no wonder that she had gotten along well with Link, they both were troublemakers.

Sidon looked at the coast one more time before heading towards the underground pools. He tried to cheer himself up thinking he wouldn’t need to worry about Link drowning and could get some proper underwater rest, but if he was frank, sleeping without his friend wasn’t appealing at all.

The incident with the Hinox and the Lynel keep coming back to his mind. Link had promised not to do anything like that again, but Sidon knew his friend was practically unable to assess danger (he was the lunatic who had jumped inside Death Mountain to board the Divine Beast Vah Rudania and could not comprehend why everybody made a big deal out of it). Link always put his duty first: if he saw the chance of catching Circe while being away, he would go after it no matter what.

No matter what.

Sidon stopped in his tracks, struck by the realization. Idiot, idiot! He had let Link go without ordering him not to hunt Circe down before coming back!

-

Ashai’s hearty food and good massage allowed Link to put himself together and have a good couple hours of sleep. He woke up in her arms, and his foggy mind needed a good minute to figure out whether they had done something the night before. They hadn’t, she just had cuddled him and run her long fingernails through his hair until he dozed off.

What a beautiful heart that woman had.

Careful not to wake her up, Link put on his Gerudo Vai clothes, drank a spicy elixir to endure the cold while the sun rose, and left towards the sand seal rentals northwest of town. He normally caught whatever wild seal he could find outside the walls, but the occasion called for a properly trained mount. Old Kohm, the owner of the rental, was already there when he arrived, and she offered him a small, fast female seal called Petunia.

Once outside the town, Link changed to the desert armour and sand boots, for safe measure, and headed to the race circuit. In the darkness of the early hours, he could see the sparkling horns of at least three electric lizalfos.

Great.

Making Petunia stop, Link readied a golden bow with a normal arrow and aimed to the eye of one of the monsters, noticing it was wearing a… bridle? Morana got then into his visual range and patted the lizalfos’ head, making the creature chirp.

Link had seen a lot of crazy stuff in his life, but tamed lizalfos were not one of them. He knew they were intelligent, at least more than bokoblins and moblins, as they made decent weapons, used armour and built forts in the water. They also used tools for hunting and cooked their food, were quick-witted in combat and could display clever strategies. Thinking of it, they almost felt too intelligent and independent to be tamed at all, beyond the fact they didn’t have discernible language. That wasn’t, however, what baffled Link. It was the fact that lizalfos were undeniable violent and evil, always had been. They raided towns and killed for fun, they attacked travellers and stole children, and of course, they sided with Ganon every time. Why in heaven’s name had made Morana see one of those beasts and say “hey, maybe I can domesticate it?”

It could be worse, though. It could be that Circe, who had made monsters side with him by falsely promising them to call the Blood Moon if necessary, was the real master of the lizalfos. Morana was working for Kilton, bringing him rare monster parts needed to make the high quality monster extract Circe used for his poison. It made sense that Circe spared some of his minions to help them in the process. Why would Morana be so willing to expose themselves, though? They knew who Link was. Maybe they were tasked with taking Link down? Feeding him to the Molduking and run away?

Link changed the normal arrow for an ancient one and came clear, aiming at Morana’s head.

“Care to explain?” he asked, his voice quiet, but commanding enough after a night of rest.

“Hey, hey, Master Link, is that you?” Morana answered, showing both hands in a gesture of peace. Link couldn’t see their face in the darkness, just the reflection of the ancient light on their fake goatee, “this is not how I dreamed to listen to your voice for the first time.”

“Why do you have lizalfos?” insisted Link, unfazed.

“Care to point that toy of yours somewhere else?”

“Sure,” Link said, and pointed to the lizalfos head, “now talk.”

“Are you gonna believe what I say?”

“We’ll see after you say it.”

Morana’s hearty laugh caught Link by surprise, but he didn’t flinch.

“It is a bit of a long story, your arm is gonna get tired,” said the Gerudo with a teasing tone. Link didn’t offer any cocky response nor did he lower the arrow, which made them sigh. “Alright, let’s just say I got lost in the desert once and managed to survive by stealing things from the lizalfos, including some eggs that I planned to eat but hatched on me when I didn’t expect it. I raised them by myself because baby lizalfos are very cute and I didn’t have the heart to kill them, and nowadays they are more reliable to me than a sand seal. Happy?”

The sun appeared in the horizon. Without the glow of the ancient arrow in the way, Link could see Morana’s expression. They were tense, prepared to defend themselves if necessary, but confident.

“Who is Perses of Helenea?” Link asked.

“No clue.”

“Circe?”

“I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“Why didn’t you say you had lizalfos?”

“They are quite a deal-breaker, I’ve found the hard way.”

“Does Kilton know you have them?”

“Yes, that’s the only reason he speaks to me, actually.”

“Does Chief Riju know?”

“Come on, Master Link.”

“Does she?”

“She doesn’t even know who I am.”

“The Gerudo always know who vorai are.”

“Now, that’s rude.”

It was rude. Link put the arrow down. The lizalfos looked at him with their disturbing rotating eyes. Petunia, who had remained quiet and still behind Link, stretched and yawned. The fact that she was not afraid of the monsters so close to her was proof that she was properly trained. However, Link couldn’t help to feel a bit paranoid.

“Look, I know I am unconventional, but I didn’t do anything to deserve being threatened with a freak Sheikah arrow,” said Morana, “I am no villain for the Champion of Hyrule to come after my ass, and if that was the case, I would have left the club as soon as I learned who you are and before you recovered, don’t you think?”

The sun was getting higher in the sky. Link could not afford to spend the whole day going back and forth. There was still a chance Morana hoped the Molduking would swallow him whole, but if he was honest, they looked sincere. And hurt.

“I am sorry,” he said, finally putting the arrow back in the quiver.

“Always that you don’t go and out my lizalfos in town, I can forgive you,” answered Morana and took the reins of the one closest to them, “let’s get going.”

Link quickly learned that lizalfos had more stamina than sand seals and were just as fast. The biggest among them pulled Morana in their shield, while other two carried small portable cannons and the last three, ammunition and supplies. They wriggled through the sand as if they were swimming, their scales adapting constantly to the colour of the surroundings.

They headed towards the East Barrens, making fairly good time. Morana said the Molduking lived on the ruins there, and they had cannons already positioned on the shrines nearby.

Link never knew how to feel when he found shrines seized by the locals. It happened frequently since the Calamity ended: they were used to hold roofs for improvised shops and storage places, as podiums to hold speeches, platforms to lit a fire and have a gathering, meeting places for forbidden love… basically, for every activity that was extremely awkward to crash into by means of suddenly materializing with the Sheikah slate.

“I want to make sure I will not fire a cannon at you by mistake,” Morana said, once they made themselves comfortable in the rock rise of Keive Tala Shrine, “how do you tackle Moldugas?”

[I shoot explosives at them from high places.]

“No more voice for me, huh?”

Link pouted, making Morana laugh. He had used his voice for being harsh at them, so it didn’t feel good to keep talking and appear threatening.

“It’s ok. So, explosives, you never go to them with close-range weapons?”

[They have hard skin, it is easier to blast them from afar.]

“Agree on that,” Morana pinched their fake goatee, securing it in place, “however, there aren’t many high places here. The Molduking tends to tackle the pillars to make people fall into the sand, as you can see.”

Link squinted. The East Barrens used to be full or columns and stone gates that had endured the elements for centuries, but now, most of them were lying on the sand, broken in half.

[I have remote bombs that can lure the Molduking to the surface. I can go with Petunia and bring him to your cannons’ range, then move out of the way so you can fire, and do some more damage with bomb arrows while it is stunned.]

“Ok, then when it goes back to its fins, lure him to the other shrine, alright? I don’t want the Molduking to identify the cannons, I think he won’t if we keep him going back and forth.”

[Will you have the time to move between them?]

“Yeah, my boy Garaga here is very fast, and the others know how to load the cannons to save me time.”

Link glanced at Garaga the lizalfos and found him licking its own eye. The fact that those things were trusted to load cannons was fucked up.

“I will have two of them on the field with you,” said Morana, “you can trust them to give you arrows or weapons, and if you promise not to blow them into pieces, I can make them carry your remote bombs to where they need to be.”

Link looked at Morana with arched brows.

“What?”

[Are you going to trust me with your lizalfos just like that?]

“Are you gonna kill my lizalfos?”

No. Link was not going to kill them. They weirded him out and the whole picture was very fishy, yet, as Morana had said, they had done nothing bad... so far.

[I will take care of the bombs. They already know how to work with you, I’d rather have you telling them what to do.]

“Fair enough. I’ll whistle before firing. If you don’t feel out of range yet, whistle back, alright?”

Link nodded. There wasn’t anything left to discuss and time was running; it was already eight in the morning. If they didn’t want to deal with serious heat, they’d better get to work soon.

-

Sidon arrived to the doors of Lady Ornella’s quarters when the prisoners were still eating breakfast. He was happy to wait, it meant he had free time to organize his thoughts.

It was not particularly strategic to interrogate the Cullen widow before Link came back and brought Purah’s findings. However, Sidon’s intent was not to extract all the information, but to gain Lady Ornella’s trust. Fear could only make a person speak so much, while confidence, the conviction of being safe and in a better place, was so much more effective. Sidon’s delay to meet with her was an obstacle, yes, but in his favour, Lady Ornella had willingly requested his presence when first approached, and she was more open to talk to him due to his rank, upbringing, and the fact he had not pretended to kill one of her servants with his own bare hands.

“Your Highness, the prisoners are ready for you.”

“Thank you.”

Sidon took one deep breath and the guards opened the door, revealing Lady Ornella as he never had the chance to see her before. She sat on an old desk chair with the demeanour of a queen on her throne, gorgeous curls of blonde hair framing her lovely oval face, noble defiance in her pursed pink lips and the most subtle frown looming over her bright green eyes.

“Please stand up to welcome Prince Sidon of the Zora,” the guards said.

Lady Ornella obliged with all the composure she could manage, studying the imposing frame of the prince, his regal stance, the soft smile that hid his frightening predator fangs. She had read about the Zora royalty and their mighty size, but nothing could have prepared her to face that 10 feet tall gentleman.

“Good morning to you, Lady Ornella,” Sidon greeted, “I wish to start this conversation with an apology for the unfortunate way we first met each other. My intent was always to keep your entire family alive.”

Lady Ornella glanced at the cradle of her child, attended by maids in a corner. The prince’s voice was just as she remembered it: gentle, deep and comforting.

“Let’s not dwell over it, I have had time to mourn my husband,” she said, “rather, I would like to know what is keeping us here. I already told everything I know to… the Champion.”

“I thank you for your cooperation,” Sidon said, deciding against excusing Link’s behaviour, and gestured at the guards.

They brought another chair for Sidon to sit in, and then left the room. Once they were into their respective places, he took a more serious tone.

“There are many reasons why I have not allowed your party to leave the fortress yet, and I am afraid I cannot disclose most of them to you,” he said, “however, I can say that one is your own safety. Your allies are not happy with the fall of Leias and they suspect you have given us compromising information worthy of retaliation.”

“Treat me like an ally and protect me, then,” demanded Lady Ornella, “my family is not in war with your oh so loved Princess, in fact, I was born into the Coriana clan, which has given supplies to your flag since this nonsense started. After all the information I gave you, putting myself, my child and my servants at risk, the least I deserve is to be escorted safely back to my parents by your people.”

“The consensus among our leaders would tend towards sending you to Hyrule Castle’s dungeons instead, I am afraid,” said Sidon with the softest tone he could manage, “you are Coriana, but also Cullen, and we know for a fact you had a prominent role in your husband’s finances and business. My men have also heard you curse the Princess’ name multiple times, which makes me think she would have a hard time seeing you as an ally.”

“Well, I think both you and I appreciate sincerity” Lady Ornella said with a face of disgust, “I don’t want that Zelda girl as queen of Hyrule.”

“May I ask why?”

“Oh, where to start…” Lady Ornella looked mortified, “you are aware of the fact that only you, the Zora, live a youth longer than one-hundred years, right? The Princess and her Champion should be old and crumbling, if not death already, but they are still here, fresh as teenagers thanks to some profane Sheikah magic, claiming the land for themselves to reign as they used to do a century ago, as if we didn’t know they failed miserably at their duty when the Calamity first came.”

Sidon cleared his throat. Link was not Zelda’s champion. He was Sidon’s.

“You tell me, Your Highness,” Lady Ornella continued, “how is it that I must abandon my way of living, which I have built for myself with my brains and my effort in a difficult world, to follow the whim of a brat who let all her kingdom to die, then came out of the blue a century later to demand worship and send that inhuman beast she has as a champion to stomp over whoever doesn’t obey her?”

Sidon cleared his throat again. Link was not a beast, he was not inhuman or a freak. Blaming him or even Zelda for the Calamity was ridiculous. The rage about to explode in his chest was not what he needed, he repeated to himself. His goal was more important. He had to be the bigger person.

“Thank you for trusting me with your feelings over this,” he said, his smile feeling a bit too big and fake to his own taste, “understanding perspectives such as yours may facilitate a pacific end to this conflict we are living through.”

“You are as intelligent and gracious as people say, Your Highness,” Lady Ornella said with a sincere tone, but a shadow of fury and discomfort in her face, “if only you could have come before, you would have prevented the abhorrent murder of my dear maid Miriam.”

“Most regrettable, I admit,” Sidon said, struggling to hide the sarcasm. He had pondered the option to reveal that Link had not killed the girl, as a gesture of honesty or something, but it was a dumb move, and Lady Ornella didn’t deserve any pity after what she had said, “sadly, the explosion caused by your husband to injure and poison me and my people prevented me from coming any sooner.”

Lady Ornella bit her lower lip. They were even.

“So,” said Sidon and cleared his throat once again to catch her attention, “you were born into the Coriana clan, the one in Tabantha whose flag is a golden crow on a green field, right?”

“Yes,” she answered, trying to figure out what the Prince was after, “we have fed Central Hyrule with our wheat for generations.”

“My men reported there was a red flag next to the Cullen emblem outside. I thought that was your maiden emblem, but if not, then, where did that one came from?”

“That did not belong to us. It was there when we arrived, and looked very old. The locals said it was a bad omen to take it down. You can actually see flags like that very far from here, there are some in Hebra Mountains that people have adapted as trail marks. I assume they belong to a war of old.”

Sidon would need to ask his father about those. Maybe he remembered.

“I also couldn’t help but notice Circe didn’t leave a flag for you. I must admit I am astounded at his indifference towards your fate.”

“He doesn’t use any flag, he doesn’t belong anywhere; as far as I know, his family disowned him,” Lady Ornella looked towards her child again, maybe to conceal the bitterness in her face, “I guess he decided Leias was not worth it after losing it a second time.”

Disowned, huh? Maybe, it was worth getting in contact with the Heleneia family to sort things out in a diplomatic way and get on the tracks to catch that bastard.

“You are here, though,” Sidon said to keep Lady Ornella in the conversation, “shouldn’t he rescue you, knowing he was the cause of your husband’s death?”

“I got the poison in my blood too, so does my child. I think Jord trusted we both would be within the explosion range.”

Sidon took a deep breath. By taking Lady Ornella hostage and pulling her far from her husband to start the negotiation, and then partially shielding her with his body when the bomb arrow exploded, he had saved the woman and her child from the horrible death two cruel men had imposed to them. To think Jord Cullen had gone so far as to contaminate the blood of his only heir with malice. It was impossible to comprehend.

“What did Circe promise to your husband?”

“What do you mean?”

“Jord Cullen was ready to get his family and himself killed for Circe’s cause. I want to understand why, or what for.”

Lady Ornella gave him a blank stare.

“I want to understand why you agreed with becoming a poison trap for him,” Sidon insisted, “what did he tell you? Did they force you? You don’t strike me as the martyr type.”

“I… well, I was deceived. They told me the poison was a potion needed to ensure that the monster troops Circe sent for support didn’t turn on us and attack us.”

“Does that mean all your maids have the poison too?”

“No, Circe said he could not produce enough antidote for all of them, but that they were safe because we were the figures of authority and the monsters would obey us.”

“And was that true? Does the poison also give command over monsters?”

“They seem to think we were one of them,” said Lady Ornella, and the mere idea made her ill, “horses became afraid of us and we gave the dogs away because they didn’t recognize us anymore.”

Sidon was not quite familiar with dogs and he had just gotten his first horse, but Link had mentioned Yagmur had to grow accustomed to his scent as well as his voice.

“Maybe it changed the way you smell?” he ventured.

Lady Ornella looked at him with a mortified face, then looked at the cradle again.

“Maybe,” she sighed, “I can’t say I have noticed a change, but well, babies are a source of many smells and at some point you can’t keep up.”

Babies. Sidon thought about Iphigenia and the egg for the first time in what felt like ages. How could they be doing? Would the child be indeed a girl, would they become little Olympia? Sadness clasped his heart when he thought about missing the hatching.

“In any case,” she said with absent eyes, “I was deceived and Jord… well, I think Circe made more threats than promises. He seized control of several harbours on the South Coast and tightened his grip around our commerce routes. Then, he realized we owed some money to the Dunsel clan and offered to pay it in exchange for a permit to station troops in Cape Cales, and so on.”

With no regard for Sidon’s presence, Lady Ornella stood up and went to take her child out of the cradle, dismissing the maids. The baby was asleep, he didn’t protest. Ornella made his little bald head rest against her collarbone and swayed him softly.

“Jord was very proud,” she continued, “when he realized Circe had us by the neck, he decided to play it hard and become an active, important ally for his cause, so much that Circe was forced to offer us actual benefits and protection. I guess he saw the poison trap thing as a way to free himself from the humiliation of asking Circe for help and mercy in case we lost the fortress to the Princess Flag.”

“Couldn’t you resort to your family, the Coriana, or the other Cullen? Or any other family, for that matter? Circe is not the only one opposing Princess Zelda, maybe someone could have bailed you out.”

“My family didn’t approve my marriage because the Cullen were a dying lineage. As for other factions, Circe is the only one to whom Leias represents a real strategic point. As I told you, the South Coast harbours belong to him, and Necluda Sea belongs to Hateno, which is loyal to the Princess. A third force couldn’t possibly use Leias for anything.”

“And don’t you have allied families that are also under Circe’s command? Maybe someone from the Faron region? They had to be interested in keeping Leias too.”

“I mean, maybe. I don’t know, the biggest sponsors of Circe’s campaign are not here, but in Hyrule Ridge, on the way to my family’s lands. You see, that area is the connection between Central Hyrule and the domains of the Rito and Gerudo, who are trying to use Zelda’s favouritism to their advantage and expand their territories.”

“Favouritism?”

“Well, Your Highness, I don’t know how else to call it! The Princess has dedicated all her efforts to talk non-Hylian races, like yourself and your people, into fighting us Hylians. Her army is a parade Gerudo soldiers, Goron guards, Zora healers, Rito messengers and Sheikah spies and advisors. Besides Hateno, all other Hylian settlements are either against her or trying to remain neutral so they don’t get blasted by some wicked Sheikah technology!”

Lady Ornella was right in that Zelda’s Hylian council and allies were all from Necluda. Even Link was from that region. There were settlements in other zones, like Tabantha, which helped her with food and supplies, but none of them provided soldiers. Sidon assumed the Calamity had decimated them so badly they didn’t have people to spare, but if he tried to see it from Lady Ornella’s perspective, it was plausible they just wanted to pass the storm without getting too involved.

He knew Zelda had no favouritism, she had resorted to the other races only because she lacked the military prowess to face the opposition. He knew that she, just like Link, put Hyrule above everything, and she wished nothing but get her people, the Hylians, to live and prosper in harmony with the other races under a fair rule. She was just so fixated in that goal that she hadn’t stopped to consider how she was perceived by the Hylians she wanted to help, and that would come to bite her in the ass later… or to bite them, because Sidon was in line to become the next Hyrulean king.

“I hope you don’t presume of me or my people any ill intention towards the Hylians, I assure you it’s not the case” he said, unsure of how to appear convincing.

“Oh, no, on the contrary, the Zora haven’t been anything but good to us since the times of the Great Alliance; I shiver just trying to imagine what that girl did to get you involved.”

Ah, if only Lady Ornella knew.

“Do you think the other families helping Circe in the South Coast have a similar position to you?” Sidon asked, trying to move on from the awkward topic. Lady Ornella frowned, confused, “I mean, do you think Circe took advantage of his influence in the commerce routes to make more families cooperate?”

“Here in Faron, yes. He made a fortune by himself and managed to purchase several key places and debts before news about his family disowning him arrived here, so even if the Heleneia don’t back him up, he still holds power.”

“Any idea of why he was disowned?”

“I think they were disgusted by the monsters; can’t blame them, really.”

The baby woke up with a yawn and clang with one little hand to his mother’s neck. Sidon smiled. Once the war was over, he would be holding his own baby in the same way, hopefully in happier circumstances. Most definitely, with Circe dead and buried.

“Lady Ornella, the reports say you denied knowing where Circe is,” he said, startling her a bit when calling her name, “I have the firm intention to free this kingdom from his evil influence and I cannot help but think you would like that to happen as well. Isn’t really anything else you can do to help locate him?”

Lady Ornella looked at her child to avoid Sidon’s gaze. She raised her hand and softly rubbed one of the baby’s pointy ears. The child chirped and hugged her, apparently very pleased.

“I can’t say I don’t want him gone,” she said, making Sidon realize he was staring, “but I don’t want to free the way for Zelda either.”

“There must be better leaders among the opposition.”

“But none is as powerful.”

They remained in silence for a while. The kid demanded more ear rubs and Lady Ornella was happy to oblige.

“Have you imagined your life if Circe defeated Princess Zelda and won the war?” Sidon asked, following a hunch.

Lady Ornella looked at him with wide eyes.

“Did he ever described how things would be?” Sidon continued, “How the races would interact with each other? Who would be in charge?”

Lady Ornella squinted.

“No, he didn’t.”

“And did you think about it?”

“I assumed things would go back to normal.”

The normal before Link and Zelda’s triumph over the Calamity was a land ravaged by monsters who obeyed to a single cruel tyrant. It was eternal rain over the Domain, grey days and nights that dissolved in a stream of constant dread. The present was messy, but nothing would ever make Sidon long for the past.

“I am a widow now, though,” Lady Ornella said, “with a child who carries the name of a disgraced family in the eyes of both Circe and the Princess Flag.”

“You can become a hero for our faction if you help us catch him. We can provide what you need to rebuild your life.”

“No offense, Your Highness, but I don’t believe Zelda will respect your wishes and the promises you make.”

Sidon cleared his throat. This would be his first time playing that card since Zelda’s proposal.

“I don’t find ideal to break the news to you in this way, knowing the reasons behind your chagrin with Princess Zelda,” he started and stood up, “but she is my fiancée, therefore I am at full capacity, as future king of Hyrule, to hold my word to you.”

Lady Ornella was left speechless. If Zelda won the war, the man in front of her was to become _king of the Hylians_. Zelda, that insufferable kid, had effectively renewed the Great Alliance established between Hylians and Zora centuries ago.

“I know there is a lot to consider in your situation, there is no rush,” Sidon offered Lady Ornella a gentle smile, “please let my guards know if you need anything, it is of my utmost interest to guarantee you and your people live in good conditions.”

“I…”

“May I visit you again, tomorrow afternoon?”

Lady Ornella looked at him, emotions piling up in her eyes. Sidon put his hands behind his back, patient. Had it worked?

“Circe has a password,” she blurted, “the fishermen of the crossed piers South of Lurelin will trust you if you give it to them, and lead you to him.”

Sidon’s smile widened. It had worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like all things Zelda, consider joining my Zelda-themed Discord server, the Hyrule Hideout! We are a small community dedicated to fancreation and theory alike, always willing to share a good time and speak about our favourite videogames. Join here: https://discord.gg/ewHVMRU2qD


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